Guide
Tax returns and registration
for my business
Every business in Pakistan has to be on the tax register, and most have to file a return every year. The register is online, and the tax office’s own guidance says an individual is registered when enrolled on its portal, with the identity card number serving as the tax number. This page is about the shape of it.
Where this applies This page covers federal tax registration and income tax returns in Pakistan. Provincial taxes on services have their own registers, and an adviser confirms which apply to you.
What this is about
The Federal Board of Revenue runs the register through its IRIS portal. For an individual, registration is the enrolment itself, and the national identity card number becomes the tax number. A company registers separately and gets its own number. Being registered is the first thing; filing on time every year is the second, and it is what keeps you on the list of active filers.
The trouble usually starts with a return that was never filed, and penalties that grow while nobody in the country is watching.
What has to be in place
What has to be clear.
Whether you are registering as an individual, a partnership, or a company.
What the business earns, and where.
Who in Pakistan will file each year.
Note Your advocate confirms which of these apply to your case.
The documents you will be asked for
What the portal usually asks for.
- The identity card number, or the company’s registration.
- A business address and contact details in Pakistan.
- Bank account details.
- For a company: its founding documents.
How an advocate helps from where you are
What an advocate, working with an accountant, does.
- Registers the business and gets the tax number.
- Files the returns each year, so that the business stays an active filer.
- Answers notices from the tax office, which is where an absent owner is most exposed.
What to ask before you agree
- Who will file each year, and will you tell me before the date?
- What does being an active filer change for the business?
- What happens when a notice comes from the tax office?
- What do you need from me, and by when?
- What is your fee, and what is not included in it?
More in Tax
Also relevant
Words you will meet
- FBR
- The federal tax authority.
- NTN
- The tax number. For an individual it is the identity card number.
- IRIS
- The tax office’s online system.
- filer
- Someone who has filed and is on the active taxpayers list.
Sources
Official pages read on 11 September 2026. The page says only what these say, and what an advocate does; nothing specific to your case.
Checked
11 September 2026
Pakistan. Sources listed at the end of the page.